U.S. patent number 7,571,518 [Application Number 11/569,432] was granted by the patent office on 2009-08-11 for clamp for closing a flexible bag.
Invention is credited to Brett Davidson.
United States Patent |
7,571,518 |
Davidson |
August 11, 2009 |
Clamp for closing a flexible bag
Abstract
A clamp (10) including a housing (11) being a first member
having a first passage (16) therethrough providing a first jaw and
a first opening to said first passage (21) from one side; a shutter
(12) being a second member having a second passage therethrough
providing a second jaw and a second opening to said second passage
(27) from one side; said second member being engaged with said
first member far relative sliding movement between an open position
in which said first and second jaws are spaced apart and said first
and second openings are at least partially aligned and provide
access to said first passage from one side and a closed position in
which the first and second jaws cooperate to clamp a portion of a
bag to be closed there between. The shutter is biased closed by
springs (13) and (14) located within the closed passage end of the
housing.
Inventors: |
Davidson; Brett (Holland Park
West, Queensland, AU) |
Family
ID: |
35509557 |
Appl.
No.: |
11/569,432 |
Filed: |
June 16, 2005 |
PCT
Filed: |
June 16, 2005 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/AU2005/000863 |
371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: |
November 21, 2006 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO2005/123522 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
December 29, 2005 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20070220714 A1 |
Sep 27, 2007 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Jun 18, 2004 [AU] |
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2004903296 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
24/30.5L;
24/30.5R; 24/523 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D
33/1616 (20130101); B65D 33/1641 (20130101); Y10T
24/158 (20150115); Y10T 24/44581 (20150115); Y10T
24/15 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
A44B
21/00 (20060101) |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Lavinder; Jack W.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Guerra; David A.
Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. A clamp for closing a flexible bag, said clamp comprising: a
first member having a first passage therethrough providing a first
jaw and a first opening to said first passage from one side; a
second member having a second passage therethrough providing a
second jaw and a second opening to said second passage from one
side; and a dog for stopping relative sliding movement of said
first and second members from said closed position to said open
position, said dog extending outwardly from said second member
adjacent said second passage and is adapted to abut said first
member and be moveably positionable in said first passage; wherein
said second member being engaged with said first member for
relative sliding movement thereto between an open position in which
said first and second jaws are spaced apart and said first and
second openings are at least partially aligned and provide access
to said first passage from one side and a closed position in which
said first and second jaws cooperate to clamp a portion of a bag to
be closed therebetween.
2. The clamp as set forth in claim 1, wherein said first member
further comprising a retention portion located adjacent a side of
said passage such that said passage has a narrower portion leading
to said opening for retaining a bag portion clamped between said
first and second jaws from being removed therefrom through said
first and second openings while said first and second members are
in the closed position.
3. The clamp as set forth in claim 1 further comprising at least
one biasing means for biasing said first and second members to the
closed position, wherein said biasing means being mountable at one
end on at least one peg extending out from said second member and
at its other end being seated in at least one recess provided in a
blind end of said first member.
4. The clamp as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second member is
a shutter and said first member has a recess which is adapted to
slidably receive therein at least a portion of said shutter to
provide said relative sliding movement between said first and
second members.
5. The clamp as set forth in claim 4, wherein said recess is hollow
and said first member forms a sleeve about the sliding portion of
said second member to locate it securely therein for said relative
sliding movement.
6. The clamp as set forth in claim 1, wherein said first and second
members are generally planar.
7. The clamp as set forth in claim 6, wherein said first member has
a front face and an opposed rear face, said first passage extends
from said front face to said rear face and said first opening
extends from a side edge of said first member between said front
and rear faces to said first passage.
8. The clamp as set forth in claim 7 wherein said second member has
a front face and an opposed rear face, said second passage extends
from said front face to said rear face and said second opening
extends from a side edge of said second member to said second
passage.
9. The clamp as set forth in claim 8, wherein said second passage
is a slot in said second member extending between opposed front and
rear faces and which opens to a side edge of said second
member.
10. The clamp as set forth in claim 9, wherein said dog extends
outwardly from said front face of said second member and is adapted
to abut said rear face of said first member.
11. A clamp comprising: a first member having a first passage
therethrough providing a first jaw and a first opening to said
first passage from one side; and a second member having a second
passage therethrough providing a second jaw and a second opening to
said second passage from one side, said second member being engaged
with said first member for relative sliding movement thereto
between an open position in which said first and second jaws are
spaced apart and said first and second openings are at least
partially aligned and provide access to said first passage from one
side and a closed position in which said first and second jaws
cooperate to clamp a portion of a bag to be closed therebetween; a
biasing means for biasing said first and second members to the
closed position; and a dog for stopping relative sliding movement
of said first and second members from said closed position to said
open position, said dog extending outwardly from said second member
adjacent said second passage and is adapted to abut said first
member and be moveably positionable in said first passage; wherein
said first member further comprising a retention portion located
adjacent a side of said passage such that said passage has a
narrower portion leading to said opening for retaining a bag
portion clamped between said first and second jaws from being
removed therefrom through said first and second openings while said
first and second members are in the closed position.
12. The clamp as set forth in claim 11, wherein said first member
has a front face and an opposed rear face, said first passage
extends from said front face to said rear face and said first
opening extends from a side edge of said first member between said
front and rear faces to said first passage.
13. The clamp as set forth in claim 12, wherein said second member
is a shutter and said first member has a recess which is adapted to
slidably receive therein at least a portion of said shutter to
provide said relative sliding movement between said first and
second members.
14. The clamp as set forth in claim 13, wherein said recess is
hollow and said first member forms a sleeve about the sliding
portion of said second member to locate it securely therein for
said relative sliding movement.
15. The clamp as set forth in claim 14, wherein said shutter
further comprising at least one peg extending outwardly therefrom
and being adapted to receive thereon the end of said biasing means
respectively to secure said biasing means to said shutter.
16. The clamp as set forth in claim 15, wherein said shutter has a
front face and an opposed rear face, said second passage extends
from said front face to said rear face and said second opening
extends from a side edge of said shutter to said second
passage.
17. The clamp as set forth in claim 16, wherein said second passage
is a slot in said second member extending between opposed front and
rear faces and which opens to a side edge of said shutter.
18. The clamp as set forth in claim 17, wherein said dog extends
outwardly from said front face of said shutter for securing said
shutter in said first member.
19. The clamp as set forth in claim 18, wherein said biasing means
is at least one compression coil spring, said coil spring's free
end being seated in at least one recess provided in said first
member.
20. A clamp comprising: a first member having a first passage
therethrough providing a first jaw and a first opening to said
first passage from one side, a front face, at least two recesses
provided in a blind end, and an opposed rear face, said first
passage extends from said front face to said rear face and said
first opening extends from a side edge of said first member between
said front and rear faces to said first passage; and a shutter
having a second passage therethrough providing a second jaw and a
second opening to said second passage from one side, a front face
and an opposed rear face, at least two pegs extending outwardly
therefrom, and a dog, said dog extending outwardly from said front
face of said shutter for securing said shutter in said first
member, said dog being adapted to abut said first member and be
moveably positionable in said first passage; and at least two coil
springs for biasing said first member and said shutter to the
closed position, each of said springs being adapted to receive at
its end one of said pegs therein of said shutter respectively and
at its other end being seated in one of said recesses respectively,
thereby removably securing said biasing means to said shutter;
wherein said shutter being engaged with said first member for
relative sliding movement thereto between an open position in which
said first and second jaws are spaced apart and said first and
second openings are at least partially aligned and provide access
to said first passage from one side and a closed position in which
said first and second jaws cooperate to clamp a portion of a bag to
be closed therebetween; wherein said first member further
comprising a retention portion located adjacent a side of said
passage such that said passage has a narrower portion leading to
said opening for retaining a bag portion clamped between said first
and second jaws from being removed therefrom through said first and
second openings while said first and second members are in the
closed position.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is an U.S. national phase application under 35
U.S.C. .sctn.371 based upon co-pending International Application
No. PCT/AU2005/000863 filed on Jun. 16, 2005. Additionally, this
U.S. national phase application claims the benefit of priority of
co-pending International Application No. PCT/AU2005/000863 filed on
Jun. 16, 2005 and Australia Application No. 2004903296 filed on
Jun. 18, 2004. The entire disclosures of the prior applications are
incorporated herein by reference. The international application was
published on Dec. 29, 2005 under Publication No. WO
2005/123522.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a clamp. The invention has particular
application to a clamp for closing a flexible bag.
BACKGROUND
Various forms of clamps are known for holding together the sides of
flexible bags to thereby close the bag. For example, U.S. Pat. No.
3,629,905 to Cote describes a device which is adapted to clamp the
opposed sides of a bag adjacent its mouth together along their
length. The device includes two opposed elongate members which form
jaws adapted to move towards and away from each other and to clamp
the opposite walls of a bag therebetween adjacent the mouth of the
bag to thereby close the bag. The device needs to be relatively
large so that the elongate members can accommodate the full width
of the mouth of the bag and therefore is undesirably large for many
applications.
Another example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,098 to Coker and
Coker which describes a device which is also adapted to clamp
together the opposed sides of a bag adjacent its mouth across the
full width of the mouth. While the device may seal the bag
effectively it also needs to be relatively large.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,637 to Niedecker describes a plastic clip which
functions differently from the two previously mentioned devices in
that it is intended to clamp a sausage casing or bag in which the
walls thereof have been gathered to form a tip. However, the
Niedecker device has two separate parts which must be fitted to the
bag tip and interlocked to close the bag thus making the device
undesirably difficult to use. Further, the Niedecker device is not
suited for easy reuse, the two parts being undesirably difficult to
separate
The present invention is aimed at ameliorating one or more of the
aforementioned problems and to providing a clamp for efficiently
closing a flexible bag and which can be relatively easily
reused.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the foregoing in view, the invention in one aspect resides
broadly in a clamp including:
a first member having a first passage therethrough providing a
first jaw and a first opening to said first passage from one
side;
a second member having a second passage therethrough providing a
second jaw and a second opening to said second passage from one
side;
said second member being engaged with said first member for
relative sliding movement thereto between an open position in which
said first and second jaws are spaced apart and said first and
second openings are at least partially aligned and provide access
to said first passage from one side and a closed position in which
said first and second jaws cooperate to clamp a portion of a bag to
be closed therebetween.
Preferably, at least one of said first and second members includes
retaining means for retaining a bag portion clamped between said
first and second jaws from being removed therefrom through said
first and second openings while the first and second members are in
the closed position.
Preferably, said clamp includes biasing means for biasing said
first and second members to the closed position whereby the clamp
would normally hold a bag closed in the in use position and would
require force to move the second member to the open position to
release the clamp from the bag and open the bag.
Preferably, said second member is a shutter and said first member
has a recess which is adapted to slidably receive therein at least
a portion of the shutter to provide said relative sliding movement
between said first and second members. In such form of the
invention it is preferred that said recess be a hollow such that
said first member forms a sleeve about the sliding portion of the
shutter to locate it securely therein for said relative sliding
movement.
Preferably said first and second members are generally rectangular
in front view and relatively thin in form. In one such form, said
first member has a front face and an opposed rear face, said first
passage extends from said front face to said rear face and said
first opening extends from a side edge of said first member between
said front and rear faces to said first passage. Similarly, in such
form, said second member has a front face and an opposed rear face,
said second passage extends from said front face to said rear face
and said second opening extends from a side edge of said second
member to said second passage. In a preferred form, said second
passage is a slot in said second member extending between opposed
front and rear faces and which opens to one edge of said second
member.
Preferably, the clamp includes stop means for stopping relative
sliding movement of said first and second members from said closed
position to said open position.
In another aspect the invention resides broadly in the combination
of first and second members adapted for use in a clamp, the first
member having a first passage therethrough and a first opening to
said first passage from one side, and securement means for securing
the second member thereto for relative sliding movement; and the
second member having a second passage therethrough and a second
opening to said second passage from one side, said second member
being adapted to engage with said guide means of said first member
for relative sliding movement between open and closed
positions,
the parts being so made and arranged that said first and second
passages and said first and second openings respectively are at
least partially aligned when said first and second members are
secured together by said securement means and in the open position
and at least said first and second passages are substantially out
of alignment when said first and second members are in the closed
position. Preferably, when said first and second passages are
aligned, said first and second openings are also substantially
aligned and when said first and second openings are substantially
out of alignment, said first and second openings are also at least
substantially out of alignment.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In order that the invention can be more clearly understood and put
into practical effect reference will now be made to the
accompanying drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a clamp according to the
invention in the closed position;
FIG. 2 is a pictorial representation of the clamp of FIG. 1 in the
open position;
FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the clamp of FIG. 1 in the open
position;
FIG. 4 is a front elevation of the clamp of FIG. 1 in the closed
position;
FIG. 5 is a front elevation of the clamp of FIG. 1 with its
components in line for assembly;
FIG. 6a is a pictorial representation of a first component of the
clamp of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6b is a front elevation of the first component of FIG. 6a;
FIG. 6c is a side elevation of the first component of FIG. 6a;
FIG. 7a is a pictorial representation of a second component of the
clamp of FIG. 1;
FIG. 7b is a front elevation of the second component of FIG.
7a;
FIG. 7c is a side elevation of the second component of FIG. 7a;
FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the clamp of FIG. 1 along line 8-8 in
the open position;
FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the clamp of FIG. 1 along line 8-8 in
the closed position;
FIG. 10 is a pictorial representation of the clamp of FIG. 1 in use
clamping the wall of a bag to close the bag;
FIG. 11 is a pictorial representation of another clamp according to
the invention in the closed position;
FIG. 12 is a pictorial representation of the clamp of FIG. 11 in
the open position;
FIG. 13a is a pictorial representation of the clamp of FIG. 11 with
its three main components in line for assembly;
FIG. 13b is a pictorial representation of one of the components
shown in FIG. 13a from the opposite end;
FIG. 14a is a front elevation of a first component of the clamp of
FIG. 1;
FIG. 14b is a side elevation of the component of FIG. 14a;
FIG. 14c is an end elevation of the component of FIG. 14a;
FIG. 14d is a sectional side elevation of the component of FIG. 14a
along line 14d-14d;
FIG. 15a is a front elevation of a second component of the clamp of
FIG. 11;
FIG. 15b is a side elevation of the second component of FIG. 15a;
and
FIG. 15c is an end elevation of the second component of FIG.
15a.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The clamp 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a housing 11 in which a
shutter member 12 is mounted for relative sliding movement thereto
and biased to the closed position as shown in FIG. 1 by two spaced
apart coil compression springs 13 and 14 which can be seen in FIG.
5.
As can be more clearly seen in FIGS. 6a to 6c, the housing is
generally a hollow rectangular prism having spaced apart front and
rear faces 11a and 11b, opposite side edge faces 11c and 11d and
opposite end faces 11e and 11f. The hollow or cavity 16 extends
from opening 17 at end 11e to terminate at blind end 11f and a
passage 21 extends through the housing from the front face to the
rear face with a side portion extending to edge 11c and at opening
22, the passage being defined by a generally square G-shaped face
having opposed portions 24a and 24b forming the top and bottom of
the G and an portion 24c forming the back of the G and a portion
24d forming the tag of the G adjacent opening 22. It will be seen
that the passage is generally rectangular in front elevation
although the housing adjacent the opening 22 forming the tag of the
G as just described provides a side to the passage 21 and acts as a
retention portion 23 such that the passage has a narrower portion
leading to opening 22 as will be described in more detail
later.
The shutter 12 generally corresponds to the shape of the housing
and is adapted to be slidably mounted in the hollow 16 for a free
sliding fit therein. Suitably, the shutter is generally also a thin
rectangular prism having spaced apart front and rear faces 12a and
12b, opposite side faces 12b and 12c and opposite end faces 12e and
12f. A passage 27 extends from the front face to the rear face and
sideways to side edge 12c to opening 28, the passage being defined
by a U-shaped face having opposed faces 29a and 29b forming the
sides of the U and an end face 29c forming the end of the U. The
passage generally is the same shape as passage 21 in the housing
except for the retention portion as will be described later. At
inner end 12d, two spaced apart pegs 31 and 32 extend outwardly and
are adapted to receive thereon the ends of coil springs 13 and 14
respectively to secure them to the shutter. A dog 33 extends
outwardly from the front face 12a for securing the shutter in the
housing as will be described later.
As can be more clearly seen in FIGS. 8 and 9, the shutter is
slidably mounted in the hollow of the housing with the springs 13
and 14 mounted at one end on the locating pegs 31 and 32
respectively and at their other ends being seated in the recesses
25 and 26 provided in the housing at blind end 11f, the springs
being arranged to bias the shutter to the extended or closed
position. The shutter is retained in the housing by the dog 33
which abuts face 24b of the housing, the housing and the dog being
sufficiently flexible and suitably shaped to allow the dog to pass
through the passage to fit the shutter into the housing but also to
prevent the two parts being easily separated.
Suitably, the shutter can be forced fully into the hollow 16 by
applying thumb pressure against end 12e of the shutter and finger
pressure against end 11d of the housing to an open position wherein
the opening 28 in the shutter aligns with opening 22 in the housing
at which time the passage 27 in the shutter will be aligned with
the passage 27 in the housing. In that relative position the
sidewalls of a bag to be closed can be forced into the aligned
passages through the aligned openings 22 and 28 following which
thumb pressure on the shutter can be released. Release of the
pressure will allow the springs to force the shutter outwards
towards the closed position wherein the faces 29b of the shutter
and 24b of the housing are urged towards each other and act in the
manner of scissor type jaws on the bag walls thereby clamping them
together to close the bag. To release the bag, the shutter is
simply pressed in until the openings align and the clamp can be
released from the bag for reuse if desired.
The clamp 110 illustrated in FIG. 11 is similar to clamp 10 of FIG.
1 and accordingly corresponding reference numbers are used to
reference corresponding components except prefaced by a "1". The
main difference from Clamp 10 is that rather than the shutter 111
having a dog for retained it in the housing 112 as in the clamp of
FIG. 1, it has a lug 141 which is engaged in a slot 142 in the
housing. However, this arrangement requires that the housing have a
sleeve part 111x and a separate end part 111y which can be secured
to the sleeve part after the shutter has been fitted by a suitable
adhesive, by sonic welding or the like. In such form of the
invention, the slot extends into the front wall of the sleeve part
from an inner face and terminates just short of the passage 121,
engagement of the lug against the end of the slot preventing the
shutter from separating from the housing under the bias of the
springs. Additionally, instead of locating pegs 31 and 32 being
provided for the springs, recesses 131 and 132 are provided.
While the forgoing description has been given by way of
illustrative example of the invention, it will be understood that
the invention may be embodied in many other forms and all such
forms are deemed to fall within the board scope and ambit of the
invention as defined in the appended claims.
* * * * *